The invention relates to a communications system and method, and more particularly to a system and method for identifying affiliations of a user for adjusting billings of communication call transactions conducted by the user.
It is a common experience to call a telephone operator for information assistance. In a typical information assistance call, a user identifies to the operator the name and address of a party whose telephone number is desired. In response, the operator locates the desired destination number using, e.g., a computer database. The destination number is then provided to the customer, e.g., by a computerized voice response unit (VRU) which provides an automated voicing of the number, and the customer is afforded an option to be connected to the destination number without the need of first terminating the information assistance call.
Other services may also be provided through an information assistance call. For example, upon request, an operator may also provide a user with information on regional restaurants, movie listings, and directions to various places; and the ability to purchase goods and services, etc.
It should be noted that even though a user subscribes to a telephone service provided by a particular carrier (e.g., ATandT Wireless Services Inc.) or branding partner (e.g., Virgin), the information assistance service accessed through the telephone service may be contracted by the carrier, and is run by an independent contractor. That is, carriers may contract different independent providers to provide information assistance services for them. When a subscriber to the carrier makes an information assistance call by dialing such typical access digits as xe2x80x9c411,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c*555,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c555-1212,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c00,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c1-800-555-1212,xe2x80x9d etc., because of the contractual relationship, the carrier would switch such an information assistance call to its contracted information assistance service provider to handle the call.
It should also be noted that the independent providers may provide different information assistance services and service features. For example, the assignee of the present application is an information assistance service provider which provides, among others, personalized services and special service features, which are different or lacking from other providers. For instance, one such service feature is a StarBack(copyright) service feature described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,092, whereby an information assistance caller after being connected to a desired party may be connected back to the assistance service provider by pressing a xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d key on his/her telephone, or otherwise issuing a command (e.g., saying the word xe2x80x9coperatorxe2x80x9d). Examples of the assignee""s personalized services include private directory assistance service and foreign language directory assistance service which are described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,437 and International Publication No. WO 01/35621.
It is common that a user subscribes to two or more telephone services by different carriers, e.g., a wireless telephone service by a first carrier for travel use and a wireline telephone service by a second carrier for home use. However, it is undesirable that information assistance service providers vary with the carriers used, which is likely, because the user may have gotten accustomed to or prefer one information assistance service provider, and the products and features offered thereby, over another. It further proves to be confusing and inefficient when the user has to use multiple providers providing different information assistance services and service features. Moreover, in order to effectively utilize different information assistance service providers, personal information, e.g., private directory information, contained in a database of or accessible by one service provider needs to be synchronized with that of another service provider. Such synchronization is infeasible given dissimilarities in their services and database formats, not to mention a lack of communications between the service providers for technological, competitive, regulatory or other reasons.
The invention overcomes the prior art limitations by providing an xe2x80x9cindependentxe2x80x9d telephone number to a user of a carrier, who prefers a particular information assistance service provider not contracted by the carrier, to access the particular service provider. The number is said to be xe2x80x9cindependentxe2x80x9d as the user dialing that number would be connected to the particular service provider independent of the carrier used. For example, such an independent telephone number may be a toll free 1-800-XXX-XXXX number, 10-10-XXXX number, or a form of 411 with a prefix or suffix such as 411XX, etc. for any carrier to connect a user to the particular information assistance service provider, which is different from the prior art information numbers such as xe2x80x9c411,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c*555,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c555-1212,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c00,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c1-800-555-1212,xe2x80x9d etc. reserved by a carrier for connection to its contracted information assistance service provider.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, when the user calls the independent number to access the particular information assistance service provider, part of the charges for the call may be allocated to the user""s affiliations recognized by the particular provider, which may have promoted or are given an incentive to promote use of the independent number or service. In general, an affiliation of a user can be any group or entity of which the user is a member or a subscriber. For example, one such affiliation may be a carrier to which the user subscribes and which contracts the particular provider to provide an information assistance service for the carrier. This carrier may enclose promotional materials with regular phone bills to its subscribers, informing them that the particular information assistance service provider is also reachable using the independent number especially when the carrier is not used.
In addition, the user may be a member of or otherwise associated with a group or organization, perhaps allowing group purchasing power, other than a telephone carrier or billing/collecting agency. Other user affiliations may be entities with which the user has an account through which the particular provider may collect information assistance service charges incurred by the user. Examples of such user affiliations include credit card issuers, debit card issuers, financial institutions, Sears, FedEx, Mobil, etc. Still other user affiliations may be entities through which no such billing/collection capabilities exist. With such affiliations, collections may be made through independent or other billing mechanisms.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, data concerning the user making a request for an information assistance service may be acquired, e.g., during a connection process. The user data includes, e.g., an automatic number identification (ANI) identifying the user""s originating telephone number, or other information identifying the user, e.g., a personal identification number (PIN). At least one user affiliation may be identified based on the user data. The user affiliation information may alternatively be acquired during an inquiry by a live operator or other automated means, with or without use of the PIN or ANI. A portion of the charges for the information assistance service is allocated to the identified affiliation, or the user as a credit, discount or other remuneration. It will be appreciated that the information assistance request may also be made through a network other than a telephone network, such as a wide area network, the Internet, etc.